Wednesday, 8 September 1999

Wilde Inside, 8 Sep 1999

Adapted by Frank Gallacher from De Profundis by Oscar Wilde

at Beckett Theatre, from Sep 8, 1999

Reviewer: Kate Herbert

How difficult it is to understand another's love, obsession
and degradation. In his monodrama, "Wilde Inside", Frank Gallacher
reaches inside the magnificent Oscar Wilde and shows us his torn and bleeding
heart.

Wilde plumbed the depths of sadness by the end of his life.
'De Profundis", the title of his 80 page letter to his heartless, absent
lover, Alfred "Bosie" Lord Douglas, came from the murky depths of
anguish and pain as he languished in prison.

The letter was written during the last six months of his two
years hard labour in Reading Gaol where he was imprisoned for homosexuality.
Prior to this, in his tiny cell, he had access to no pen, paper or books. For
Wilde, a man of art, wit and society, this was equivalent to a living death.

Gallacher, one of our finest actors, adapted the larger
work, De Profundis, selecting sections of text suitable for the stage. His is a
superbly crafted performance that sweeps gracefully between Wilde's passion and
pain. Collette Mann directs him with great sensitivity. Together they have
created a theatrical piece from the letter.

As Wilde, Gallacher prowls around his 3 square metres of
cell or perches on the edge of his cot, speaking his heart to Bosie who
betrayed, abused, manipulated and bankrupted him. At first, he speaks with
passion and anger about his humiliation accusing Bosie of obstructing his
creativity.

He tells stories of Bosie's abandonment and neglect of him.
He tells of Bosie's father, the Marquis of Queensberry's, relentless quest to
ruin Wilde and send him to gaol for seducing his son. This is a family that
should have been slaughtered at birth. Both Bosie and his father are cruel,
self-absorbed and untouchable. They are emotional psychopaths.

Wilde's rage shifts gears into religious fervour. He waxes
lyrical about Christ, speaking poetically about sorrow and forgiveness. His
public humiliation is an act of contrition, his weeping and loss of laughter a
purge of his sins.

The horror of the piece is that Wilde, after raging at
Bosie, is willing to forgive him. He loved Bosie blindly and tragically.
Gallacher shows us this Wilde, flesh stripped back to the bone still willing to
suffer more at the hands of his wretched lover.